A quick tip on how to muddle through unpleasant activities with a smile on your face: view them as an expression of love and build prayer into what you’re doing.
When I was in college, I rented a house with two other guys from my academic department. My class schedule allowed me to drop by the house for lunch every day while my housemates were away, and I made it a habit of doing the dishes that had piled up in the sink. It was always surprising how many dishes were stacked in the sink, especially for a bunch of college guys who weren’t really the doing-dishes type.
Needless to say that scrubbing glasses and picking dried bits of food off plates was not my idea of a great time. But I did these dishes with joy – viewing them as an opportunity to express the love of Christ to my housemates. I would scrub away, all the while praying that my housemates would come to a saving relationship in Christ, that I could be a good witness to them, and that they would feel Christ’s love through my dishwashing. I’d pray for their relationships with their girlfriends. I’d pray for their academic studies. I’d pray for Godly influences in their lives.
I wish I could say that my housemates came to Christ while I was living with them, but they didn’t.
But I do know that washing those dishes didn’t seem like such a bad chore after all, and the time just flew by.
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